


Playing With Fire: Immortality

by orphan_account



Series: Playing With Fire [1]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Cannon Divergence, Minecraft, Moonquest, Multi, Okay more like massive cannon divergence, Tekkit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-15 23:44:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1323697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(CURRENTLY REHAULING)</p><p>Fact One: Duncan may or may not have a few issues.<br/>Fact Two: He is also fully willing to take prisoners.</p><p>Welcome to Tekkit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Duncan first saw him at the Sanctum.

Purple and red, like fire and shadow, they were some of the last to arrive. His demeanour was something Duncan hadn't ever encountered before. Dark hair with a pale, almost white streak, and a purple kieffyah or something covering the bottom half of his face.

He had light violet eyes and dark clothing with a cape of sorts, while his accomplice had flaming red hair, green eyes and a smile that could light up continents. 

One of the most eye catching things was the huge reptilian beast that the girl rode on. Sharp teeth and piercing eyes, it even had a bandana. 

It had been Ridge's suggestion to divide the territories of the New World beforehand, and avoid any obvious clashes over land for the moment. He was hovering about a foot above his chair, playing with some kind of holographic screen.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road." Xephos took his place at the table that had been set up and those present followed suit. The two strangers sat at the far end of the table, Kieffyah lounging in his seat and Redhead somehow managing a cross legged position. Their pet yawned and slumped down behind them, watching the proceedings with one eye open.

"Okay." Xephos began. "We'll go round in a clockwise direction, starting with Sips and Sjin."

Sips smirked. "Sipsco has already started construction on the Eastern Flatlands. We'll eventually need to repurpose the entire area."

"Done." Ridge snapped his fingers and a map of the world materialised on the table. Sipsco's land was marked.

Honeydew and Xephos conversed quietly before Honeydew stated: "Spawn Plains." Ridge nodded. Martyn took the Wildwoods and Lalna himself decided on the Southern Rivers. The Railbrothers took areas in the North-Eastern Forests and then it was the strangers' turn.

Kieffyah raised an eyebrow at Redhead, who nodded.

"The Darklands."

There was an uproar almost immediately.

"What?!"

"No way!"

"You guys must be crazy."

"Stop." Ridge shouted, silencing everyone. He looked Kieffyah in the eye. "You sure about this Rythian?"

"Of course." He replied coolly.

The Sanctum proceeded, and was soon complete. As everyone dispersed, Lalna glanced once again at Rythian and his little group, eyes narrowed. He knew everyone else, he could predict their every movement, and manipulate them as he wanted. He ruled the Server, and they didn't even know it.

But these two were an unknown quantity, and that he couldn't accept.

This world was his.

\---

Duncan lay on the roof of the factory, staring at the star filled sky. He had long since bored himself with the arduous task of helping the dwarf and the spaceman. They thought they were big players, game changers. But that was a lie.

He had heard little of Rythian lately, and this bothered him. He needed to keep tabs on everybody if he was going to succeed.

A singularity. That was his end goal. A singularity so immense it would raze the world, forcing the Master Code to place everyone in another dimension while it rewrote everything.

From what he knew, only one thing could dimension hop at will, and that was Endermen. The unnatural mobs had first started appearing about a cycle after the server was established, disappearing into a cloud of particles and reappearing right behind you, fangs bared.

He had begun testing immediately, developing energy field traps that would suppress their magic. Dissection was difficult to say the least, Endermen had rock-hard skin that only few substances could pierce, his choice being red matter. 

Even so, Duncan's most recent experiment had been quite successful. Endermen had very strange blood, if it was blood at all. Instead of liquid, it was more of a gas. Black tendrils that writhed and twisted, lashing out at anything that came close like a feral animal.

The sample hung from his neck in a small vial. He held it up into the moonlight and watched as it changed from black to purple, a sign that it was still infused with magic.

Endermagic acted in no way he had ever seen before, reacting violently to Vis and almost ignoring Code, which was just unthinkable. Everything in the known dimension was controlled by Code, so Duncan assumed Endermen had not originated here.

He pushed himself to his feet and walked idly over to the edge of the factory roof. It was freezing, and a thick layer of snow coated the ground far below him. Christmas was quite beautiful in Minecraftia, he mused, as he stepped off the building and free-fell toward the earth.

He activated his flying ring at the last second, and hung suspended above the blanket of white.

"Duncan! There you are!" He heard Xephos call out to him as his feet touched the ground. His eyes were sparkling with barely contained excitement, and he brandished his sword about carelessly.

"What's up?" Duncan says nonchalantly.

"We have enough materials to begin construction on the Particle Accelerator!" Now that was surprising. He hadn't expected them to take an interest in dark matter quite so soon, especially since they had only just finished construction on the factory.

"That's cool, but maybe we should start tomorrow, you do realise its like, eleven at night don't you?"

"Ah." Xephos grinned sheepishly. "Good idea." And with a goodnight he flew towards the wooden cabins.

Duncan watched the structures until all the lights flicked off, and then began to fly North. For some reason, Endermen seemed to congregate around the Darklands, so it was the best place to find specimens.

He hadn't been looking for it, but suddenly the rumoured Blackrock Castle loomed up before him. He grinned to himself; maybe it was time to pay out a little insurance. He landed by the gates, and was surprised to find them open. Well, the easier the better.

It was unnaturally quiet, and the halls were shrouded in darkness. Duncan strode through, adrenaline flooding his body as the risk of detection grew the deeper he went. Down a set of stairs he found a huge hollowed out room, which must have spanned at least half of the castle. Perfect.

He set up a doorway to his castle using the portal gun and began construction. Three nukes would be more than enough to leave Blackrock nothing more than a smoking crater in the ground, and at the touch of a button.

With the force field complete, he stepped back to admire his work. Not bad, considering the conditions.

Duncan navigated his way back up to the castle, only to lose his sense of direction the further he walked. Suddenly there was a growling behind him, and he spun round only to find himself face to face with Rythian.


	2. Chapter Two

"Lalna."

Rythian placed his palm against Duncan's chest and shoved him back against the wall. There was something wrong with his eyes though, they were extraordinarily vivid, much more so then the last time he had seen them, glowing intensely.

There was an immense amount of heat radiating from him too, and Duncan realised... Oh. Huh. He wasn't wearing anything except a worn pear of jeans. Not that he had begun to doubt his sexuality or anything because NO. He hadn't. Not even a little. No.

"Why the fuck are you here?" He dragged his eyes away from the ...lack of clothing and back to Rythian's face.

Oh god.

With the mask gone, it was now obvious why he wore it. Just like every sickening teenage vampire movie you've ever seen, two scarily sharp fangs glinted in place of more humanoid teeth.

"Wait ...what are you?"

Rythian snarled again and threw him to the floor. He stalked partway down the hall and stopped. Damn. All the way down his back was a row of pale spikes that Duncan suspected were actually bone.

Were the spikes met his back there was a bloom of shiny black skin, like a tattoo, and it curved and spiralled upwards onto his neck and shoulders. It was sort of like when ink blotted, except in wicked spires and curls.

"A monster." Rythian half whispered, still facing away.

He turned around, and his eyes hardened. With a slight whoompf sound, he disappeared into a cloud of purple particles and reappeared behind Duncan.

"I'll ask again."

He wrapped an arm around Duncan's neck and this time they were both teleported. Right to the edge of a freaking volcano!

"Why are you here."

"Oh, no reason." Rythian changed their position until Duncan's weight was pulling him via gravity right over the edge, with only Rythian preventing him from falling.

"Ack! Alright! See this remote?" He held up the device and smirked, despite the fact that Rythian wouldn't be able to see it. Then again, he could probably tell anyway.

Rythian tensed. "What did you do?" He hissed.

"Well now. Ever heard of nuclear power?"

He didn't move.

"That's what I thought."

Suddenly the arm around his neck began to tighten. He gasped, trying to suck in air that wasn't coming. 

He had one option.

"Tick tick boom." He whispered, and pressed the button.

\---

He hadn't realised how close they were to the castle they were. The wall of air smashed into them, sending them both plummeting into the volcanos' fiery depths.

Wind tore through Duncan's hair as they fell, and he reached desperately for his flying ring. He was still tangled with Rythian though, and so just as he was about to grab it he was pulled along as Rythian teleported.

Right into the crater.

Obviously what he had been aiming for was long gone, and so they were falling again, before landing with a sickening thud on the heated rock. Duncan winced as his bare hands met the now definitely radioactive stone.

He had landed on top of Rythian, so was relatively unharmed. His unwanted companion however, was looking much worse for wear. His white cloak was soaked from apparently broken ribs, and another puddle was growing like a demented halo around his head.

He was unconscious.

He had grievous injuries.

He had black blood.

Wait.

Black. Rythian had black blood.

Dammit, focus.

Groggily, he stood, and tried to shake away the buzzing noise inside his skull. Looking around, he saw the absolute decimation his creation had caused. The blast radius was massive, with the edges of the crater disappearing in some places into the early morning fog.

He flew shakily upwards a few meters and saw that all the grass for miles had turned a sickly brown, and the trees were fast loosing leaves. Duncan watched as they drifted slowly, peacefully to the ground, seemingly unaware of the desolation around them.

Guilt was not an emotion Duncan was familiar with, and he did not feel it now. His eyes took everything in analytically, calculatingly. Feelings or personal choices were unnecessary, and therefore he viewed them as a hindrance.

It was likely nothing would ever grow here again, the ground was tainted. Anything that had not been killed in the explosion would likely die soon anyway due to exposure to high level radiation. 

In fact, he was likely to die of radiation poisoning if he didn't leave now. He fumbled at his belt for the portal gun, and shifted some rubble to create a suitable surface.

Duncan was about to step through his hastily built portal when something made him stop. He looked over his shoulder to Rythian's prone form, and shook his head.

He wouldn't be more than a burden, dead weight. 

Hold on, said the scientific part of his brain, the one that didn't care about his pounding headache or growling stomach. Or death by radiation. What kind of scientist are you to pass up a perfect specimen like that? Don't lie and say you aren't interested.

It was true. The more he thought about it, the more his fingers itched to pry apart the purple eyed mans every secret, examine his very soul. Suddenly shot with energy, he went back and pulled Rythian into a firemans' lift.

Immediatly he felt little jabs of pain in his back, and his eyes widened as he realised the thick black substance oozing out of Rythian's body was lashing out at him. Duncan yelped and dropped his soon-to-be test subject, and hissed in annoyance.

Blood was hovering around Rythian's form like a dark cloud, occasionally forming half hearted points and slashing threateningly in Duncan's direction. This was a problem.

Finding no easier way, he decided to just grin and bear it, and grabbed Rythian's gauze covered forearm and dragged him through the portal.

Duncan swore as he realised he had misjudged the distance, and they were a good distance away from his castle. The portal behind them blinked out of existence, and his gun would need recharging before he could use it again.

It was going to be a long freaking day.


	3. Chapter Three

Duncan watched impassively as his new toy regained consciousness. Rythian gained his footing almost immediately, but staggered. He placed on hand against the wall to brace himself, while the other was at his waist, reaching for a blade that wasn't there.

His eyes were still luminous as he scanned the white room. No doors, no windows, just cold, empty space.

Next he tried to summon his magic. Faint purple particles flickered to life around his skin and he closed his eyes, focusing. Eventually he gave up and punched the nearest wall in frustration.

He ignored the blackness as it oozed from his fingers and began to play with his hair, and slumped to the floor.

The scientist turned away from his monitors and checked the readings coming from his magic dampeners. All they could tell him was that Rythian possessed an insane amount of power and had been able to manipulate magic since he was born.

That was unnatural for a human, and therefore he had to be either a halfbreed or another species entirely. Now, Duncan already had his suspicions, but there was, of course, only one way to find out.

For science, as they say.

\---

Rythian only first noticed the cold, not when he began to shiver, but when his blood began to retreat back inside his body. That was a rare scenario, and it was that thought that pulled him out of his meditative state and back to the present.

The scientist, Lalna, stood over him, smiling slightly.

He flicked out his tongue to taste the air, and felt a mixture of emotions emanating from the man: glee, satisfaction and impatience prominent, along with just pure curiosity.

"Reptilian instincts." Lalna noted.

Rythian scowled at him.

"You are quite an interesting person." He began, and smirked. "Or should I be corrected?"

"What do you want?"

"I just want to run a few... tests. All for your own well being, of course."

"Fuck you." Rythian spat. "You can try."

"I'm quite sure you misunderstand." He knelt down close and grabbed Rythian's hair, forcing his head against the wall. "I don't see anyone who could stop me."

\---

Duncan had expected expected him to retaliate. He hadn't expected it to be so fast.

The electric collar was knocked from his hand as the purple eyed man crashed into him, forcing them both to the ground. Rythian fought like an animal. Down and dirty and with the constant gleam of desperation in his gaze.

Duncan revelled in it, the knowledge that he had the last say, ultimate control of the outcome. He loved to watch the hope utterly wiped out, he needed this ecstatic feeling of control like a drug.

To be fair, this was proving slightly more difficult than he had anticipated. He had fought other humans, sure, but Rythian seemed to have supernatural ability, which made this fight, no, this destruction of his moral, that much harder.

Well, it only reinforced his suspicions.

Eventually his opponent managed to kick free, and threw a nasty right hook right into Duncan's face. He staggered back, lightly touching the trickle of blood coming from his nose in surprise.

Duncan stared at Rythian for a few moments, before lashing out in return. The hit connected and the scientist pushed his advantage, kicking him to the floor and putting pressure on his arm.

There was a resounding crack as the bone broke, and he smiled as Rythian cried out. Reaching behind him, he grabbed the collar and fastened it around Rythian's neck.

The magic user panicked and somehow managed to gather enough energy to teleport, if only a few feet away. Duncan grinned viciously and tapped a button on his glove.

His howl of pain was feral as the white hot electricity arced through him. He shuddered and fell to the ground, totally spent.

Duncan pulled his prone form onto the operating table that had begun to rise out of the floor, and clicked the heavy restraints into place. Rythian was breathing heavily, and staring into Duncan's eyes with a blank gaze. It was slightly unnerving.

He shook his head to dispel the thought and began work. Machines came down from the ceiling and whirred to life, X-rays, scanners, precise lasers and racks bearing numerous surgical equipment descending neatly into place.

His eyes flicked to Rythian's again. "This is going to hurt. A lot." He says conversationally.

Duncan knows he can't reply. The collar stops him from doing so. His body is beautiful, and as much as Duncan doesn't want to be thinking that, it is. He is a canvas, and Duncan the artist.

And paint he will.


	4. Chapter Four

Pain.

That was what he felt when the cool metal kissed his skin, almost reverently, and was dragged slowly downwards.

It was fire and ice and it was burning, burning brighter and hotter than any star.

He thrashed and writhed but there was no escape, no release, no refuge from the storm that was his existence.

All

he

saw

were

the

bright

green

eyes

of 

his 

captor.

All

he 

saw

was 

God.

\---

Rythian did not exist. That was the pinnacle of his understanding. Whenever something comes into being, it is because they have been generated from random strains of Code. Pigs, cows, skeletons, ghasts and even on rare occasion, humans, all had their Code number engraved on their heart like a kind of barcode.

Everything had a Code except Endermen, whom Duncan could thus far not explain. They were anomalies, they should not exist.

Neither should Rythian.

Where the magic user should have had his Code was just blank space, broken occasionally by strands of sluggish black blood flowing over and around the organ.

It was a scientific impossibility that he was even experimenting on this man, or creature, and Duncan only had one valid explanation for it. Xenobiology is the profession of those who are trying to create a new form of DNA, one that is completely incompatible with the known universe.

The end goal of trying to create some kind of super-being had always seemed a little far-fetched and impractical to Duncan, but now he was beginning to understand it. 

This universe was governed by Code and the Master Code. Rythian and the Endermen had no Code. Therefore they must be from a different universe altogether, possibly the same one.

A different dimension.

\---

/two months later...

\---

Duncan was thoroughly pissed. Four weeks. Four entire fucking weeks since he had been anywhere near his castle, laboratory or more importantly, his current pet project.

"I can't believe how far we've come already. The birth of atomic science! In a matter of years, we could be traveling to entirely different planets!"

Xephos and Honeydew where fiddling around with the last of the machines and chatting animatedly while Duncan tried to contain his irritation. The naive idiots. This fucking Particle Shitcelerator was beginning to get on his nerves. Sure, it could be useful, but he had better, more enjoyable tasks he could be working on right now.

It was a good thing today was the day they finally turned this monstrosity on, He didn't think he would be able to last any longer. In fact, he wondered how his little pet was getting on. He certainly wasn't going to be able to escape, but another concern was starting to work away at Duncan.

What if he took... extreme measures to free himself?

Surely not. He wouldn't.

That was a lie.

He would.

"We're ready!" The stocky dwarf called out to him. About damn time, he couldn't do anything suspicious right now. These two may trust him, but with his reputation it was a fragile trust. 

Ever since that fucker Sjin.

Duncan fell to his usual method of passing the time as he walked over to his companions, which was planning the sickest, most violent ways to end the bearded bastard himself. He would pay alright, he would definitely pay.

Xephos practically pranced over to the control panel in excitement, his dwarven friend smiling after him. Honeydew may not have understood all of what this meant, but if Xephos was happy, he was happy.

How cute.

"And... We are online."

There was a high pitched whine as the machines lit up like a Christmas tree, beeping and flashing in chaotic order. Suddenly there was a flash of light that began to whizz around the massive figure-eight they had built, getting faster and faster until there was just a thin beam of energy.

Duncan pushed his goggles onto his forehead and grinned slightly. "Think of the power this could provide us with. We could be mass producing Catalytic Explosives given time. Those Sipsco fools won't know what hit them."

"Maybe. But aren't they part of the Pact?" Xephos looked up from the Accelerator.

Oh. That piece of shit. Ridgedog had gotten them all to sign a special Pact when the world had been created, one that banned them from creating or using certain items that he deemed too dangerous.

Not that it had ever stopped him before.

He shrugged. "I'll talk to Ridge. Anyway, now that we're done here, I'm going to need to get back to my castle. I've got some work to do."

Honeydew looked put out. "Sure you don't want to stay for beers?"

"Sorry." Duncan shook his head. "See you guys."

They said their goodbyes and he headed back towards his castle just as the sun began to set. The landscape was wreathed in a crimson light that turned the earth to fire and the water to blood as he finally approached the gates.

They opened slowly, the first signs do disrepair. Ivy and thornbrush covered the walls, and the wild grass was tangled with weeds. The reactor was silent, but the force field still worked, so that was one good thing.

One.

First things first, his lab. Duncan had to forcibly drag the mechanical doors apart before descending into the darkened corridors. Only several lights responded when he entered the main room, flickering uncertainly as they tried to fight back the encroaching gloom.

He strode urgently over to the cages and scanned each one with increasing dismay. Nothing was moving, so either the previous inhabitants had starved to death, or something had killed them.

Finally he saw motion in the penultimate enclosure. A humanoid figure, shrouded in darkness, sat cross legged on the stone floor. Blazing purple eyes flicked open and stared right at him, strangely empty and...

Broken.

Duncan stepped up to the bars and sighed in relief. "Still alive, huh?" He smiled maliciously.

Rythian suddenly teleported right up to where Duncan was observing him and snarled in fury.

Animalistic was the only way to describe it. His eyes no longer held the light that made one human, that gave them empathy or belief or love. All he could see was a predatory hunger, a hate that could consume worlds.

Duncan grinned. He had finally broken the wild stallion, tamed the wolf to his hand. 

This beast belonged to him.


	5. Chapter Five

In the newly fixed light it was obvious what had become of his other test subjects. Torn up carcasses littered the cells they had once inhabited, jagged marks covering their necks and torsos.

Some where older than others, decay starting to claim the flesh from their bones as they lay there, insides splayed across the floor. Blood smears coated the stone around them, all eventually leading to one source. Rythian.

One of the most recent kills, a wolf, was still alive. It stared at him sorrowfully from where it lay, it's fur soaked with blood from the slash mark just shy of its throat. Duncan finished the job, as it's mangled body would only be of use to him now after death.

He would clean up this massacre later. Right now, there was an important test he could now carry out that would be extremely beneficial to his knowledge. He pushed equipment off of his overly cluttered workbenches, knocking an entire prototype mech to the ground as he searched for the syringe of Enderman pheromones.

The ultimate test of Rythian's species would be finding out what was a compatible mate. Even though he looked like the average bipedal, ape-descended human, Duncan was almost certain that he was far from it.

And with his curious powers and lack of Code, there was only really one thing he could be. The thin glass tube contained a faintly greyish clear liquid that for some reason smelled vaguely like chocolate. Well, each to his own.

Duncan opened the door to the cage and stepped inside. Rythian growled uncertainly from the far corner, able to smell the pheromones, but also able to smell Duncan.

He walked slowly towards Rythian, not wanting to anger him for now. He slipped the canister out of the syringe and into a small pistol used for tranquilliser darts as he approached. 

Suddenly Rythian flew from the shadows and collided with Duncan. Shit! He was supposed to be chained! He fired the gun accidentally in the scuffle and the liquid filled dart was released with a slight whoompf sound.

Rythian stopped. His pupils dilated visibly and Duncan grinned, until he realised that his pet was staring directly at him.

Oh fuck.

Looking down, he saw the now empty dart sticking out of his left wrist. Christ, this wasn't supposed to happen. Rythian knelt lower to the ground and lithely stalked closer to Duncan, just like a jungle cat.

The scientist scrambled away until his back hit the wall of the cage and swore. This was bad, it had all gone to hell.

The purple eyed not-human pressed closer, crowding him against the cage, fangs slightly bared as if tasting the air. Then slowly, ever so slowly, Rythian leant forward and kissed him.

It was hot and it was frantic and it felt way better than it should, so good that Duncan couldn't stop himself from responding. It was wrong, and he shouldn't be encouraging this but fuck. 

Rythian growled, more than ready to move on, and nipped at his throat warningly. Duncan panicked slightly and tried to placate him by carding his hand through Rythian's hair. 

His huff of frustration quickly turned into a purr of satisfaction and before long they were both just lying on the floor, the scientist struggling to regain his breath as he came down from the major adrenaline high that was Rythian.

That guy did things to his mind.

As he was planning his next move, he realised how nice it felt to just be... with someone. To him, everyone was just a chess piece in the game of life. A game he strove to control.

But this was calming. Rythian wasn't an enemy or an alliance or a transparent friendship. He did not judge Duncan. Not anymore. He belonged to Duncan. And fuck all if it wasn't going to stay that way.

Eventually his pet twisted so he was lying on his stomach and fell asleep. Duncan absently ran his fingers over the strange spikes that ran along the... Enderborn? Along the Enderborns spine and considered.

Normal Endermen didn't have any ridges of bone like this, they were all smooth skin and disproportionate limbs. And yes, Rythian definitely had some genealogical relation to those black monstrosities.

Tracing the condemning tattoos, he felt a sudden surge of possessiveness towards the magic user. There was no one else in this world that could relate to him, no one he needed, no one he cared for. Except, that wasn't necessarily true, was it?

The red haired girl. Duncan wondered what had happened to her. She had probably got caught up in the explosion. But what if she hadn't? Could she be looking for Rythian?

Almost as if sensing his thoughts, his pet began to whimper in his sleep, squirming fitfully. His eyes flicked open and he stared at Duncan.

Panic.

Suddenly the phone on Duncan's workbench began to vibrate. He sighed in annoyance and walked out of the cage, locking Ryian back inside. The halfbreed strained against the bars behind him, growling with a mixture of urgency and fear.

"What ..." He was cut short by the voice of Honeydew.

"Duncan, get your arse up here now! Something's happening to the accelerator!"

"Can't it wait?"

"No way. It's making some kind of weird blacky-purpley stuff appear that's messing up everything it touches. We need... holy fu-!"

He was cut off with a burst of static. Duncan swore and threw his phone back onto the table. A black substance that interacted strangely with the world? He paused. Black substance. It clicked.

He spun around, excited, and ran up to Rythian's cage.

"You know what this is, don't you?" He whispered half to himself as he opened the door. The Enderborn flew out and leaped nimbly onto the table, and from there onto one of the steel girders that ran across the roof.

Too hyped up to get irritated, Duncan pulled on his recently neglected quantum armour and grabbed some equipment, all while rambling a constant stream of calculations.

He was ready to leave. His helmet allowed him to remotely access all machinery in the area, as well as control his suit, using his own custom Pons neural system. He looked up to the roof and tried to make out Rythian. 

Activating the thrusters in his boots he cautiously flew up and landed with a metallic clunk on the beam. The darkness growled warningly.

"Come."

Rythian hissed again and warily slunk out of the shadows. Space seemed to be warping around him, the distortion a making it hard to look for too long. Duncan blinked a few times and suddenly he could see it.

Flared behind Rythian were two massive black wings, the scales shimmering weirdly. A pair of bone like horns curved backwards away from his head and an equally reptilian tail arched around from behind his back.

The tattoos had overtaken more skin as well, covering his arms, chest and neck. They pulsed with a malicious energy.

"Fuck." He breathed.

This... development kind of kicked his previous theory out the window. Maybe he wasn't an Enderman? Could he be something else? No. Focus. Got something more important to do right now.

"Can you.. fly?"

Rythian just stared evenly back at him. Then he growled and stretched out his wings.

"Okay, I guess that means yes then." Duncan muttered to himself. He caught sight of the electric collar and tried to gauge if it would still work. Probably.

"Rythian." His pet looked up and gazed at him with that weird unwavering stare that most animals have. "You're going to stay with me. Something happened down North and I want to check it out. This could be exactly what I've been looking for."

He glided down to the floor and Rythian jumped to land in a crouch beside him. He had tried to use his new wings but there wasn't enough space. Duncan laughed lightly and tangled his fingers in Rythian's hair.

"You'll get your chance."


	6. Chapter Six

Utter chaos was what confronted them as soon as their feet hit the ground. The factory was in ruins, blazing pieces of machinery and rubble marring the landscape. A large crater in the earth exposed the subterranean Particle Accelerator to the open air, and what lies within it.

Inside the blast-proof glass casing the Accelerator was filled with a pure black substance. In the centre, the large figure-eight had shattered, and the thick sort-of liquid had expanded into a broiling, writhing ball.

Strange tentacles of the stuff flailed about, their only apparent purpose to lay waste to anything in reach as quickly as possible. Suddenly a flicker of red caught his eye, and Xephos was right beside him.

He was covered in dust and soot and his clothes were torn, but he looked relatively unharmed save for a few scratches on his face.

"Duncan..." He panted. "Thanks... for coming... we kind of have... a situation here.."

The scientist nodded. "What happened?"

"No idea. One moment it was working just fine, the next the control panel exploded and the thing started choking out this stuff."

Lewis suddenly seemed to notice his companion. "Rythian? How are you here?" Duncan realised that the spaceman couldn't see his pet's slight changes without first knowing what had happened. Rythian just cocked his head to the side and studied the new player.

The little exchange was unceremoniously interrupted when one of the massive tentacles smashed down right beside them, cracking the overheated soil and sending chunks flying like shrapnel. 

He and Lewis had managed to leap out of the way, but it caught Rythian and he was flung into a section of wall with a crack. Duncan swore and ran over. Rythian groaned and staggered to his feet, but froze when he saw Duncan.

Shit.

"You." He gasped. A small sliver of marble was embedded in the collar. "What the fuck did you do to me?"

"This really isn't the time..."

His eyes filled with violence and hate, and he lunged at Duncan, sending them both nearer to the edge of the crater. How had he snapped out of it? It was impossible. Their scramble was made slightly awkward by Rythian's wings, and so he kicked free and drew his sword.

"Why should it matter?" He snarled. "You aren't a human. You're a monster." When Rythian flinched, he attacked, slashing across his shoulder. Rythian howled and grasped at his arm as if trying to hold in the swirling blood.

Suddenly, as if responding to Rythian's cry, the chaotic storm of black tendrils all froze, leaving the world in a heavy silence. Then as if someone had merely hit pause and then play again, they all sprung into animation once more.

Save for one, that was slowly descending towards them. It hesitated, then flowed around Rythian's body, enveloping him. When it had receded, He was covered in a full set of intricate black armour, even on his tail and wings.

It was etched with runes Duncan didn't recognise, and it felt like it was emanating some dark, violent aura. The helmet was shaped like a dragon head and the gauntlets were fashioned like claws. It was disturbing.

But not as disturbing as Rythian's blank gaze. His eyes were entirely purple, without a sliver of white to speak of humanity.

A bolt of pain flared to life inside Duncan's head, and he dropped to his knees.

@ZIPLOCATIONAT-4724DIMENSIONERROR@Go on, little cub. Go and kill him. He hurt you, and now you can get revenge@

The very air was suddenly suffused with an immensely cold voice, one that was ancient and powerful and sent shivers down Duncan's spine. Rythian bared his fangs with a hiss and made to approach him when there was a metallic thunk.

"Duncan!"

Rythian's head snapped around and he stared at Lewis, who was slinging his bow and drawing his sword instead. He pulled the arrow out of the base of his neck and it distorted for a few seconds before blinking out of existence.

@ZIPLOCATIONAT-4724DIMENSIONERROR@Well, I guess you will just have to annihilate them both now, won't you?

Rythian lunged forward and scored his newfound claws down Xephos's chest. He was faster and more agile than his opponent, and so had the advantage where they would normally be evenly matched.

But this wasn't even. Lewis was trained as a soldier, a melee, but Rythian was something else. He moved with an unnatural grade and fluidity that allowed him to dance on the edge of a blade and not get cut. Almost literally.

Thrusts that he couldn't dodge he deflected, and what he couldn't deflect he caught. Xephos is well known for being the best of the best, but even a master swordsman can fall.

Lewis stumbled and Rythian was there, clawed gauntlet digging into his throat. He pushed the choking man further towards the shattered Accelerator, step by step, before they were sanding at the edge of the crater.

"Rythian... What are... dont... stop..."

The Enderborn took a few seconds to acknowledge the gasped plea, before hurling him into the writhing darkness.

Into oblivion.


	7. Chapter Seven

"No!"

Duncan lunged toward Rythian, and tore into him as they danced along the razors edge of oblivion. His armour held up, for better or worse, and Rythian changed tactic, playing defense and only aiming for his neck.

He wasn't going to win. He was disadvantaged by his opponents speed, and so he needed a game-changer.

He needed to level the playing field.

The high pitched whine of his boots activating made Rythian pause in confusion, before Duncan was airborne. He unslung his prototype plasma rifle and fired it up.

Now they could play.

His former pet stared up at him for a few seconds, calculatingly, before suddenly opening his wings with a crack. 

It was amazing, surely something of this size would be unable to fly, but apparently not. With a few powerful downward strokes the Enderborn was rising into the sky. He lunged forward, claws just managing to nick Duncan's cheek as he leaned back.

They grappled in midair, slowly ascending, when the scientist accidentally discharged his rifle. The was a flash and suddenly he was supporting his opponent as the flesh on one of his wings began to corrode.

Rythian hissed in pain while Duncan powered up his boots and propelled them into the clouds. Just a little higher and he could drop that basta-

He yelled as an a electrical current shot through him and his suit begun to shut down. The Enderborn snarled in triumph and yanked his claws out of a gaping hole in Duncan's helmet as they began to fall.

Wind howled around them as they plummeted to the ground. Rythian flapped his ruined wings in vain, trying to slow their descent.

Six seconds un-un-un-until impact, his helmets dying systems chirped.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

O-o-one.

Brace for impact.

\---

They never hit the ground.

\---

It wasn't painful, so to speak, but more like extremely intense pins and needles, a complete sensory overload. He couldn't see anything as the HUD display in his helmet flickered and died, it felt like he was sinking into some eternal darkness.

Duncan swore he lost consciousness, because before he knew he was aware once more, without sight, but able to feel and move. He staggered to his feet and tore off his helmet just to be blinded by the sharp, washed out light of this new terrain.

Miles and miles of cracked, pale rock stretched out in every direction, apparently encountering no horizon and just fading into the distance. There was a slight scrabbling behind him, and Duncan spun around to find Rythian mere feet away.

But something was wrong. The Enderborn was crouched submissively, head in his hands as he let out a choked whimper. Duncan watched for a moment as small rivulets of blood dripped through his hair and onto the ground from were the iron claws pierced his skin, before approaching, probably against his better judgement. 

He knelt down beside the Mage and gently prised his hands away, instead moving them to the floor were Rythian proceeded to gouge deep marks in the stone. He looked up at Duncan, eyes filled with pain and fear.

At least they were now normal.

" ...hurts..." He choked.

Duncan pulled off Rythian's helmet and pressed their foreheads together. He closed his eyes.

"What hurts, pet?"

"I can s-still hear her. Inside my head. It b-burns." He shuddered and buried his face in Duncan's shoulder, as if trying to hide from the outside world.

"Who is she?"

Rythian's voice suddenly sounded slightly off. "She is the Queen."

The scientist laughed lightly. "That isn't much help. Tell me who the Queen is and I'll make her go away." He hummed when Rythian began to nuzzle the side of his neck now that he was calmer. "I can make you feel better."

All of a sudden Duncan felt a familiar chill.

/ZIPLOCATIONAT-4724DIMENSIONERROR/Oh dear. It appears I have another ...unintended guest. I may just have to remove this little excursion myself.

A thunderous boom echoed throughout the world, and a ring of black pillars began to rise out of the ground, each topped with some kind of glowing ball of energy. Duncan rose swiftly to his feet alongside his pet.

/spawnedentityname/enderdragon/at/-774828x/at/-958472y/

A resounding roar echoed through the skies and a massive figure appeared in the distance. The black dragon spread its wings and roared again, before leaping in the air and powering towards them.

Duncan swore and ripped his sword out of its scabbard.

"What the hell is that?"

"That's her. The Queen. The enderdragon."

His pet also drew his weapon, and they stood side by side, facing the oncoming threat. She was immense, covered in gleaming black scales and bearing glittering claws and teeth.

/ZIPLOCATIONAT-4724DIMENSIONERROR/The traitor and the world-render. It is time for you to die.

What? World-render? Could she have known-?

Suddenly she was right in front of them, teeth bared.

"Move!" Rythian hissed, and he dived to the left while pushing Duncan the other way. The Queen passed in between them as they scrambled to their feet. 

"How are we supposed to fight her? She's too big!" He yelled in frustration.

"Get the pillars." Rythian responded. "She's metaphysically connected to them."

"That doesn't make any sense." Duncan retorted.

"Look at me? You know what I am, and does it make sense? No. And yet here I stand. So unless you want to die, I suggest we get moving!" They sprinted toward the nearest tower as the Queen turned around for a second pass.

Duncan stripped off his now useless armour and together they scaled the obsidian monolith. The energy cube at its peak flickered ominously as the two of them scrambled over the edge.

"Use your gun." Rythian urged. "Shoot the rest of them." He complied, unslinging the weapon and flicking up the scope. He managed to take the first several down before the Queen finished ascending and came back around.

"Come on, hurry!"

The penultimate one had just disintegrated when Rythian abruptly grabbed the back of his lab coat and pulled him toward the edge of their perch.

"Jump!"

They leaped, but not before the enderdragon smashed into them, shattering the tower and sending them both flying over the abyss. It felt like time had all of a sudden slowed down, leaving them in suspended animation as the rim of the world gradually faded from sight.

Duncan could count the singular flecks of colour in Rythian's eyes as his pet stared back at him, could see the exact moment when he realised there was no going back.

He almost missed it at first, but the process quickly became more obvious. Pixels so small as to be almost invisible seemed to be congregating around Rythian, emanating from his body. 

They were his body.

Dimly, Duncan was aware the same thing was happening to him to, he could almost feel his painless disintegration, his entire being being unravelled. Rythian was made up seemingly of little specks, but he knew that from his soul poured lines and lines of Code, the minuscule numbers that governed his existence more completely than DNA ever would.

His vision faded, but he could still hear Rythian breathing.

In.

Out.

In.

Silence.

\---


End file.
